NAD - Bad Cat

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MogwaiBoy
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NAD - Bad Cat

Post by MogwaiBoy »

:congrats:

Image

Drove to the North Shore and back this morning to pick this up. Lucky I got back through Auckland before the false prophet Tamaki took to the streets.

I sold my speaker-upgraded Blues Deluxe (great pedal platform, will probably still miss it for sure), which left a huge gap - but this more than fills it. The top level specs are similar to the Blues Deluxe: 40 watts through a single 12" combo, but that is where the similarities end.

This thing sounds just gorgeous. The extra saturation and harmonics of the EF86 mode is super sweet - very touch-sensitive. Reverb is digital but I love it (and less springs and tubes to worry about). Does sparkly, chimey clean to fairly dirty when pushed (at whisper volume too if you want!). My 4-way Tele does everything through it. One thing that stands out too is just how quiet (low background noise) it is compared to the usual Fender circuits. I am quite picky about this sort of thing, especially if I plan to record it - and this amp is super polite in that regard (a good cable and stacked singlecoils helps too I suppose!).

I had an AC30HWH once and this is definitely in the same universe, but far, far less shrill. I am usually on the 6L6/6V6 side of things, so this is my first EL34 amp. Looking forward to cranking with the band, and maybe some stereo action down the line. Strangely it didn't include the footswitch so I will probably import one. If any of you were watching this on TradeMe... sorry - I'm the one who got it!

The kids think it's pretty cool how the eyes glow when you flip off Standby :D

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Reg18
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Re: NAD - Bad Cat

Post by Reg18 »

Congrats! Nice looking amp.

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JoeBlow
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Re: NAD - Bad Cat

Post by JoeBlow »

So cool. Does the fat switch make a subtle change, or is it quite noticeable?

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Re: NAD - Bad Cat

Post by jeremyb »

SICK!
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: NAD - Bad Cat

Post by MogwaiBoy »

JoeBlow wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 6:37 pm So cool. Does the fat switch make a subtle change, or is it quite noticeable?
The Fat switch adds a volume boost and lift in gain. EF86 in, volume (preamp) up, master down, Treble up (which is like a tilt EQ and tightens the lows at the same time), Fat switch on = 8)

Certainly not modern high gain but will get you anywhere else you want to go. I'll try my Friedman BE-OD Deluxe into it next and see if it can do true high gain with a pedal - I have an old Rat too. Will probably speaker out to an external cab with a drummer so I don't rattle the tubes to death, though the internal speaker seems very capable.

It doesn't have the clean headroom I'm used to (Twin Reverb, Electra Dyne, even the Blues Deluxe) but that's why I bought it.
Loving the simplicity - and what tone control is there is very well thought-out and powerful. My small brain would never cope with a Mesa MK V :lol:

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Re: NAD - Bad Cat

Post by FuzzMonkey »

Lovely.
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Re: NAD - Bad Cat

Post by Slowy »

Mark Sampson is The Man.
Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who so survive.

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